I’m singing ballads at this event in Manchester. Rylands Blog The 31st October is a date which you might notice in the diary – perhaps an evening you mark with a ghoulish costume, or by taking the children trick or treating, or even staying in and watching a film that makes you want to hide…

Lately, I’ve been in the final stages of putting together the manuscript for the book.  As I came to the very end of the project, I spent a couple of days writing a few new bits for a reworked introduction.  I’d never been entirely comfortable with the fact that the first chapter was the introduction,…

Can vice-chancellors ever really know what it’s like for emerging researchers and precariat postdocs? I was reading two vice-chancellors discuss how to take pressure off young academics the other week and it made me increasingly ragey. Set-ups like this are doomed in many ways because you’re asking people with incredible privilege and a fair whack […]…

During the summer, we went to Rufford Old Hall‘s family fun day, where we had a go at archery and visited our friends at the North West Reptile Club (someday I hope to be able to take Dave along). To be honest, I wasn’t going to bother going round the house this time, as we…

This is the second of two short posts about my summer holiday in France, only this time it’s not really about anything historical.  I was just blown away by Le Grand Éléphant at Les Machines de l’Île in Nantes.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late in the day to have a look round the workshop, but…